Donald J. Albosta

Who is Donald J. Albosta?

Donald Joseph Albosta is a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan.

Albosta was born in Saginaw, Michigan and attended Saginaw and Chesaning public schools. He graduated from Chesaning Agricultural School, and attended Delta College in Bay City.

He served in the United States Navy, was a farmer, owner, and developer of Misteguay Creek Farms. He served as Albee Township Trustee and was associate director of the Saginaw County Soil Conservation District. A Democrat, he was Saginaw County Commissioner from 1970 to 1974 and served in the Michigan State House of Representatives from 1974 to 1976, representing the 86th District. In 1976, he first ran for the United States House of Representatives in Michigan's 10th congressional district losing to longtime incumbent Al Cederberg.

Albosta sought a rematch against Cederberg in 1978. In a major upset, he defeated Cederberg to become the first Democrat to represent this district in 84 years. He was reelected twice, serving from January 3, 1979 to January 3, 1985.

Albosta was chair of the House Subcommittee on Human Resources which conducted an investigation into the so-called October Surprise, in which the presidential campaign of Ronald Reagan was alleged to have orchestrated delaying the release of U.S. hostages held by Iran until after the election as well as allegations that the Reagan campaign stole President Carter's briefing materials, a controversy known as Debategate. The subcommittee's final report in 1984 excoriated Reagan's campaign staff for employing unethical, if not illegal tactics. Albosta's committee spent over $500,000 on the investigation, but never identified a culprit. This did not play well with voters in his district and he was defeated in November 1984 by Bill Schuette. It was later revealed that the person behind the leaked briefing books was Paul Corbin, a former aide to Robert Kennedy and a disgruntled Ted Kennedy supporter.